Help

BookSwim is America’s only online book rental club that delivers hardcovers and paperbacks to your doorstep. You sign up, add books to your online reading list (we call it a Rental Pool), and receive them in the mail.

When you’re finished, return your books in the included prepaid return mailer and we’ll automatically ship more books from your Rental Pool.

Rent as many books as you want each month for one low price, with no due dates or late fees. It’s the easy way to read the hottest hardcover bestsellers and timeless paperback classics while keeping your wallet full and your bookshelves clutter-free!

We’re a public library’s most devoted groupies but, sadly, we’ve found that the library can’t address every reader’s needs. Here are some advantages we offer:

• No waiting lists for popular titles
• No due dates
• No late fees or fines
• No driving across town to borrow books
• No limited hours

In bookstores the average New York Times hardcover bestseller costs an agonizing $27 per title. We want to provide a more cost-effective way to read new releases and popular books while the literary world is still talking about them. Our 3-books-at-a-time membership plan lets you rent at least three new releases in a month and still save over the retail price of a single hardcover!

We ship all packages from our Pennsylvania warehouse by UPS Mail Innovations, a hybrid UPS / USPS delivery service. Most members can expect shipping times of 3 -10 days, with longer shipping times to Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and military or embassy addresses.

Return packages travel via media mail, which generally takes 4 - 14 days.

Need the books now? Every member has the option to upgrade an outgoing package to priority mail for $6.99 per package.

Return your books when you want with no late fees! Just slide your finished books into our durable prepaid shipping bag, slap on our included return label, and drop it in the mail. You can mark your return package on our Pool page to make sure you’re credited for every book you’ve returned.

Our plans ensure that you always have a book to read while your return package travels back to our warehouse. To keep your books from getting lonely in the mail, and to get the most out of our plastic prepaid mailers, follow this guide for returning books: 

• Light Reader - 3-books-at-a-time: return 2 or more books to trigger a new shipment
• Casual Reader - 5-books-at-a-time: return 3 or more books to trigger a new shipment
• Avid Reader - 7-books-at-a-time: return 4 or more books to trigger a new shipment
• Devout Reader - 11-books-at-a-time: return 6 or more books to trigger a new shipment

As soon as we receive your return package, the next selections from your Rental Pool automatically ship out. Your supply of reading material is always replenishing itself!

As long as the spine label on each of the books is intact, we know it’s from you and we can get your next package rolling!

No problem. You can print a prepaid return label from our website and use it with any bag, box or envelope of your own. If you can’t print a label or don’t have packaging, we’ll mail you another prepaid return bag at no extra cost.

Your first bill goes through on the day you create your account, and subsequent monthly subscription fees post every 30 days after that. The same monthly fee will be charged regardless of your activity, so it doesn’t matter if you read two books in a month or 20 — your monthly fee will always stay the same. Of course this means that the faster you read, the more you save!

Any book purchases or postage upgrade fees are added to your bill for the next month. 

Our catalog features the most popular fiction and nonfiction today, from hardcover bestsellers released this morning to enduring paperback classics. Feel free to browse or search through our catalog before signing up.

If you can’t find a book you’re looking for, you can request that it be added to the catalog using the Book Request feature at the bottom of every search page.  We’ll display your requests within the Requested Titles section of your Pool page so you can keep track of their progress. When enough members request a book, we automatically add it to the catalog and to the Pool of everyone who voted for it.

The Top Book Guarantee is the best way to make sure you receive your #1 choice in each package.

Just go to your Rental Pool page and select the book you most want in your next shipment. We'll make sure it’s in your next package guaranteed!

Many of our new releases will be brand new, while older titles will be gently used but durable, clean and ready to accompany you wherever you want to read them. Our staff carefully inspects each book that returns to our warehouse, so you’ll never receive a book that looks as if it’s survived three wars and a stint in the Rockies.

Absolutely! The purchase price for every book you rent is shown on your Pool page (prices vary by book condition and age). Click ‘Keep’ to purchase it, and the book’s purchase price will be added to your next monthly bill.

Every BookSwim outgoing and return shipment has package tracking, so we can always tell if a package of books has been lost or obliterated en route. Don’t worry, you’ll never be held responsible for our shipper’s mistake. As soon as you tell us of a shipping error, we’ll arrange a replacement shipment for you right away.

Bad things happen sometimes! We know that shipping can be hard on our books, and occasionally one of them won’t survive intact. If your book arrives damaged within its package, just let us know and you won’t be held responsible.

If you intentionally or inadvertently drop our books into a volcano, bathtub, tiger cage, or anything else that renders them unreadable, we ask that you please be honest and take responsibility by paying for them. But don’t worry, we’ll only charge the used price for each damaged book. Just go to your Rental Pool and click ‘Keep’ to purchase the damaged book, and its purchase price will be added to your next monthly bill. No matter what, we’ll still love you!

A BookSwim Gift Card is the perfect gift for any reader!

Gift Cards can be purchased and sent in minutes through the Purchase a Gift Card link. You can choose a gift with a certain plan in mind (say, the exact amount of the 3-books-a-month plan for three months) or pick a dollar amount so your gift recipient can pick the plan that suits her best. Print a beautiful certificate with your Gift Code or choose email delivery for instant gift-giving.

Your gift recipient can choose to redeem her gift immediately through the Redeem a Gift Card link or wait to create her account. At the end of her gift membership, she can continue with BookSwim or cancel her account. Either way, she'll be sure to thank you for months of hassle-free reading!

We require a credit card on all active accounts as a deposit, in case a rented book is left out in the rain, dropped in the bathtub, eaten by unruly puppies or otherwise damaged. We will not use the credit card unless there are charges after the value of Gift Card is used.

In addition, adding a credit card lets you continue your BookSwim account seamlessly if you fall in love with us and choose not to cancel your account after exhausting your Gift Card. We will remind you by email when your Gift Card starts running out.

Yes! With a little effort, it’s no problem to create an account with your billing information so your lucky gift recipient can enjoy renting and returning books. During account registration, just enter the shipping information for your lucky recipient followed by your own billing information. We will send the books to the shipping address on file.

Remember that this will be easier if the person receiving the subscription has internet access to add books to their Rental Pool. In a pinch, though, you can also do this for your recipient.

We stock the most popular fiction and non-textbook nonfiction books in standard hardcover and paperback formats. At this time, we do not rent textbooks, audiobooks, ebooks, large print books, reference books, books with yearly editions (i.e. Guinness Book of World Records), or books written in a language other than English.

We can only accept a valid credit or debit card with a Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express logo as payment for active BookSwim accounts. We cannot accept personal or business checks, cash, PayPal, or money orders.

Our inventory is constantly changing so our readers can enjoy the freshest possible selection of the newest titles. A paper catalog would be obsolete a few days after we print it! Search or browse through our extensive online catalog to review our offerings.

Of course you can. At any time and for any reason, you can choose to put your BookSwim account on hold for 30, 60, 90 or 120 days at a time. During that time, you won’t receive charges or shipments but you can still log in to your account and add books to your Rental Pool.

We will send you a reminder email seven days before your reactivation date. You can contact us at any time if you want to return early or need to extend your hold.

Absolutely! You can cancel at any time with no hidden fees. However, there are no refunds for partial months. Once you cancel your account, just return your books to the warehouse within 30 days.

Thanks for the thought! Alas, we do not accept donated books. But if they are in decent shape (not moldy, icky, or missing pages), please check with your local schools, hospitals, libraries, or prisons. After these places pay all their bills, they often don’t have enough left over to stock their bookshelves. Your local Habitat for Humanity or Salvation Army thrift stores may be interested too.

If you absolutely can’t find any place to donate books in your community, check out Books For Soldiers or Books for Africa.

And if you have books that are at the end of their useful lives, please recycle them so they can be reincarnated.